Shashi Tharoor as Kerala CM? Congress MP dodges key question ahead of counting as exit polls project UDF win | Watch

Counting for key Kerala Assembly elections will begin at 8 am today.

With counting just hours away in Kerala – and other three states and a union territory – the key question that looms over the Congress is who is going to be its chief ministerial candidate if the party comes to power. The exit polls for Kerala have predicted a win for the Congress-led UDF and if that translates into poll results today, the grand old party will have to see who its CM candidate will be. Track updates on Election 2026

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor after casting vote during the Kerala Assembly elections, at a polling station, in Thiruvananthapuram, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (PTI)

Congress MP and senior leader Shashi Tharoor was asked a question related to this only. Will he be the CM of Kerala? Here is how Tharoor responded to the question: “I know exactly what you're trying to get me to say. I'm not saying any of that. The answer is very clear.”

How Congress chooses a CM candidate

He further detailed on the process of selecting a chief minister from the state cadre. “We have a standard practice in the Congress Party. After the election results, the victorious MLAs will be met by an envoy or representative of the president of the party. That person will get the sense of what the MLAs want. He or she will go back to Delhi, speak to the high command and the high command will take that into account and make a final decision. Thereafter, they are not bound by any rules or limits. They can choose anything that they want. It's up to them to decide,” Tharoor said.

He exuded confidence about the UDF win and said, “When we won in 2011, at that time the LDF lost both Kerala and Bengal, but they were still in power in Tripura. But this time they will not be in power anywhere in India, and that will be a major development in our country.”

Other names in discussion for CM post

KC Venuogopal is another senior Congress whose name is being discussed as a probable CM face. Congress leader Tariq Anwar spoke regarding this on Friday and said if Venugopal is interested, he can be the next chief minister of Kerala although it all depends what the results unveil in Kerala.

Confident about UDF's win in Kerala, Anwar was quoted by news agency PTI as saying, "There is no confusion about it."

While Anwar did mention Venugopal's name as a potential chief ministerial candidate, he said that it will be upon the Congress party high command to decide who the “the appropriate person to run the show” would be.

Kerala assembly election highlights

Elections to 140-Assembly seats in Kerala were held on April 9 in a single phase. It was two-front contest between the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). The exit polls look promising for the UDF, while it may not be

While the Axis My India poll predicted that UDF would win 78-90 seats, the Manorama C-Voter poll said the UDF could win as high as 94 seats. The halfway mark in the 140-member Assembly is 71. The two polls gave the LDF 49-62 seats and 44-56 seats respectively. The NDA will remain a marginal player and could potentially open its account in the state Assembly, most polls said.